Fish soup in Csúza, wine tasting in Vörösmart

In Pécs, everyone knows, if you want a good fish soup, go across the border to Csúza, Croatia. There at Kovács Csárda, they make the best fish soup anywhere. It is approximately fifty kilometers from Pécs, south of Mohács, not far from the banks of the river Danube. You can tell from its name that Csúza was once a part of Hungary. Their frish soup is always made to order —you say for how many and you pick the type of fish. They also make their noodels fresh; their recipe starts like this: 4 kilograms of flour, 50 eggs, salt. In these parts, they serve noddles with the fish soup, not just with bread like elsewhere. So we had mildly hot fish soup with homemade noodles and a good Olaszrizling (Welschriesling) spritzer to go with it. It was on one of the these gastro tours that we discovered they make pretty good wine here in Croatia too! ...

On their menu, there are wines from about five or six wineries, most of which carry Grasevina, known in Hungary as Olaszrizling. First we ordered Kollar’s Grasevina followed by one from Josic Winery. These wines were strikingly pleasant, full of aromas, full in body with great acidity, exciting and complex in taste. It made us reevaluate this variety and recognize its many faces. There is more to this wine than we thought! With this momentum, we headed to the neighboring village, to Josic Winery. And we were absolutely amazed! In the middle of village there is a small inconspicuous road off to one side leading to the wineries. On both sides of the road there are overgrown cellars with caved in ceilings, but a little further up and you start seeing signs of life. At the top of the hill, beautiful rows of cellars open up before you and stunning entryways, tasteful signs, and large, straw animals framing the door all hint that you are in for something special. Crossing the threshold of Josic’s entrance, the sight is absolutely stunning. The interior, which houses a restaurant, is much bigger than what it appears to be from the outside. From the street it looks as if there are two separate cellar buildings, but inside it is all one large area. It is modern, has wonderful interior design, beautifully set tables and friendly atmosphere. Off to the left of the entrance there is a fire pit for cooking soups and stews and a clay oven for baking fresh bread right next to it. Off the main restaurant area, there are two branches. One of its branches is lined with tables while the other is shut off by a large, glass window showing you the barrels that lead to the winery. The place is absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, we were already full from our fish soup, but next time, we’ll be sure to try out the restaurant as well. This time, we had to make due with just a wine tasting at in the neighboring building. They had two types of Olaszrizling, one was “au naturale” and the other had some toasted oak. We also tasted their rosé made from Pinot Noir grapes, Schiller, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Cuvee made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. We enjoyed the first Olaszrizling the best, its oak version was a bit too extreme for us and suppressed the wonderful aromas of this variety. Our next favorite was the Cuvee, though it was still young (2008), but in a few years it should be a very nice wine. We bought a bottle and will taste it again in two years—that is if we don’t drink it by accident first!

Idea: If we’re in the neighborhood, take a trip to the nearby Kopácsi Rét where there is wonderful bird life in the Danube river meadow. Pictures in the gallery!